Special report on diseases of cattleUnited States. Bureau of Animal Industry
Science
Special report on diseases of cattle
United States. Bureau of Animal Industry
Cattle -- Diseases
When the calf enters the passage with its back turned down toward the belly
and udder, the bending back of the fore limbs is rare, probably because the
feet can find a straighter and more nearly uniform surface of resistance in
the upper wall of the womb and the backbone, and do not slide over a crest
into an open cavity, as they do over the brim of the pelvis. The weight of
the calf, too, gravitating downward, leaves more room for the straightening
of the bent limbs, so that the desired relief is much more easily secured.
The manipulation is the same in principle, only one must add the precaution
of a steady traction on the feet in extraction, lest, owing to the adverse
curvature of the fetus, the hoofs are suddenly forced through the roof of
the vagina, and, perhaps, the rectum as well, during a specially powerful
labor pain.
When the back of the calf is turned to the right side or the left the main
difference is that in addition to straightening the limbs the fetus must be
rotated to turn its back upward before extraction is attempted. In this
case, too, it may be difficult to bring up and straighten the lower of the
two limbs until the body has been rotated into its proper position. Cord
the upper straightened limb and head, then rotate the body and search for
the second missing limb.
_Fore limbs bent back from the shoulders._--This is an exaggeration of the
condition just named, and is much more difficult to remedy, owing to the
distance and inaccessibility of the missing limb. It usually happens with
the proper position of the body, the back of the calf being turned toward
the back of the mother. The head presents in the passage and may even
protrude from the vulva during an active labor pain, but it starts back
like a spring when the straining ceases. Examination with the oiled hands
in the intervals between the pains fails to detect the missing limbs. (Pl.
XVI, fig. 1.) If, however, the hand can be introduced during a pain it may
be possible to reach the elbow or upper part of the forearm. In the absence
of a pain a halter or noose on the head may be used to advance the whole
body until the forearm can be seized just below the elbow. This being
firmly held and the head or body pushed back into the womb, room may be
obtained for bringing up the knee. The forearm is used as a lever, its
upper part being strongly forced back while its lower part is pressed
forward. If a pain supervenes the hold must be retained, and whatever gain
has been made must be held if possible. Then during the next pain, by
pushing back the body and continuing to operate the forearm as a lever, a
still further advance may be made. As the knee is brought up in this way,
the hand is slid down from the elbow toward the knee, which is finally
brought up over the brim of the pelvis and into the passage. It is now
corded at the knee, and the subsequent procedure is as described in the
last article. In a large, roomy cow with a small calf the latter may pass
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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